1 Million Cups gives Wichita entrepreneurism effort a jolt (+video)

The organizers of 1 Million Cups were buzzing with coffee and excitement Wednesday when their first event was standing room only.

The event, open to the public, will be repeated from 9 to 10 a.m. every Wednesday from now on at Wichita State University’s Old Town campus, 238 N. Mead.

On Wednesday, founders of established, but fast-growing local companies Fliphound and AtlasMD gave presentations on their innovative companies and took questions from the audience.

The idea is for entrepreneurs to get high-quality help from other entrepreneurs, or bankers, accountants, investors or economic development staff. It’s a way for entrepreneurs to crowd-source business solutions, find or offer help and build relationships with others in what can be a lonely endeavor.

One organizer described it as a support group for entrepreneurs.

Created by Kansas City's Kauffman Foundation in 2012, 1 Million Cups has now spread to 83 communities around the country.

“This is the event that Wichita needs to bring entrepreneurism back,” said Frank Hopkins, co-founder of FNL Denim.

Brandon Shuey, founder of Fliphound, explained to the crowd what his company does: It does for billboards what Uber does for taxi service, using an online website to sell time on hundreds of digital billboards across the country to advertisers.

It doesn’t own the billboards, but offers to supply advertisers and keep track of the payments. Advertisers bid on the amount of time and frequency their ads appear.

He said the company will soon get into selling space on the much-larger number of printed billboards.

When asked the traditional 1 Million Cups final question — “How can the community help you?” — Shuey said it should talk up entrepreneurism.

“Hey, talk about the entrepreneurs in the area. Spread the news in the community …This is a great community,” he said.

“There are a lot of startups. But there are so many more that nobody has ever heard about.”

The founders of AtlasMD, Wichita doctors who have started a membership-based medical practice, said their no-insurance-involved model provides dramatically lower cost for higher quality service. It has expanded to five doctors in two locations.

In the next two weeks, presenters will be: Feb. 17, Filimin and Postalocity.com; Feb. 24, iKnow and Notes to Self.

Organizers said they understand that the real test will be to keep enthusiasm and usefulness levels high in the months to come. But for now, at least, attendees were fired up about the future.

“Whoever said there’s no entrepreneurial spirit left in Wichita, they need to come see that there weren’t any seats available,” said budding entrepreneur Benny Bowden, who is developing a startup company to supply fair trade athletic wear.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 11:00 AM with the headline "1 Million Cups gives Wichita entrepreneurism effort a jolt (+video)."